Founded in 2018 by Ukrainian-born entrepreneur Viktoria Moldavskaya, the self-celebratory Viva La Vika jewellery retailer – mind you, Vika is the common diminutive of ‘Viktoria’ – has since gone leaps and bounds, operating a string of shops in both Moscow and St. Petersburg. The brand’s latest retail space opened its doors a little while ago in what’s arguably the most fashionable area of the Russian capital. Occupying an elongated, 74 sqm. (797 sq.ft.) unit on the ground floor of a stately residential building, the interior design, created by local architect and designer Elena Lokastova, offers a stark contract with the façade. The shop sees two distinctly different section—upon entering the premises shoppers find themselves in an almost hallucinatory, bright pink universe where the walls, floor, ceiling, furnishings and fixtures are all in the same hue.
Borrowing heavily from the Space Age aesthetic, recessed tiered shelving units are paired with an almost blob-like, 7.5-metre (24.6 ft.) display table, meticulously crafted from MDF and covered in enamel, all featuring soft, rounded corners. While the walls are covered in a fluffy fabric, the floor is crafted from shiny resin, adding a textural edge to the setting. At the far end of the Viva La Vika store, shoppers are suddenly immersed in pastel blue. Here, the setting is covered in a terrycloth-like fabric, featuring recessed seating situated opposite decorative, otherworldly wall displays. Large floor-to-ceiling mirrors cover the back wall, creating nor only an interesting visual effect, but also optically enlarge the premises. The new Viva La Vika stocks the retailer’s full range of its own jewellery and also items of a string of other jewellery brands.
Designed by Elena Lokastova
Images © Elena Lokastova
Photography: Inna Kablukova